Abstract

This aticle discusses the political and ideological discours of the Latin American Anticommunist Confederation (CAL) - a far-right organization that operated in the region from 1972-1984 -, approaching specifically its antagonism to Liberation Theology and the progressive clergy. Based upon documental research with primary sources, deposited in the Centro de Documentación y Archivo Para La Defensa de Los Derechos Humanos (CDYA), in the Museo de La Justicia, in Asunción (Paraguay), I seek to demonstrate how CAL, the regional chapter of the World Anticommunist League (WACL), furnished an space to gather extremist Catholics, contrary to the innovations promoted by the II. Vatican Council, against their progressive enemies inside the Church. Furthermore, the discourse that denounced the “communist infiltration” in the religious environment served as a articulation point between religious and repressors, police and military, associated with other discoursive elements, such as the critic of human rights, for example. In this way, I seek to contribute to the studies on the right-wing transnational networks, by indicating how CAL and WACL helped to form an international religious right.

Keywords:
Latin American Anticommunist Confederation; Far-Right; Catholicism; Liberation Theology; Latin America